A Morning in Reykjavik

Nothing like a beautiful morning breathing clear Northern Atlantic air in the northernmost capital city in the world.

The group congregates together for the first time at Hlemmur Square

Exploring the town while everyone’s still asleep

We walked southwest from our hostel (Hlemmur Square) to the iconic Hallgrimskirkja church, and had a small breakfast at the staple Cafe Loki before climbing ontop Hallgrimskirkja ($6 USD per person) for unbeatable views of the city:

The more modest interior of Hallgrimskirkja

Then we cafe hopped a bit some more (some espresso and latte at Cafe Babalu, and Reykjavik Roasters — formerly known as Kaffismiojan) before a bit of photo-opping at the Sun-Craft statue by the ocean:

Then we backtracked up into the city center to the Tjornin Lake, and explored some of old Reykjavik, where some swans started to fight:

Nobody died.

Statue of Jon Sigurosson, who led the campaign for Icelandic independence — decked out with groovy headphones in light of the Airwaves Music Festival taking place this weekend

Afterwards we walked up north past Old Reykjavik’s city square to the redesigned national concert hall, Harpa, where Sigur Ros first got their big break:

A wonderful real ice sculpture, constantly melting and changing…

…then we walk around and realize it’s just an ad…a very well designed ad.

Inside Harpa

After Harpa, we walked up northwest for a lunch at Saegraefinn for their famous lobster curry soup while overlooking Old Harbor:

And then we suddenly realized we were already done with pretty much all of Reykjavik. What was expected to take about 8-10 hours ended up being only 3 to see the whole city.

Now all we have left is the Phallological Museum (supposedly the world’s largest collection of penises — that’s right: ‘ze family jewels) and our choice of the city’s geothermal public baths. We’ll report back soon on the outdoor geothermal bathing while exposed to some zero degree Celsius cold and our reaction to browsing “largest collection of penises” in the world.